Sunday, 17 February 2008

66,212%

Another sordid recordbreaking statistic from Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. The country's percentage of inflation stands at 66,212% according to its central bank. Unofficially, it is estimated to be running at 150,000%. President Mugabe is standing for re-election next month.

US President George W. Bush has called for a fair poll in March, which is actually quite unlikely. Zimbabwe's opposition has long been subjected to a sustained campaign of violence and harassment by Mr Mugabe's authorities and followers. It is more than probable that we'll see our octogenarian dictator returned to power, to continuing his campaign of misrule and destruction of the country he was so proud to have liberated from the clutches of colonial Britain.

Ian Smith's Rhodesia was a disgrace on the face of Africa, with its apartheid system. We're better off without it, and Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo did well in ousting Mr Smith. It is a bitter disappointment to see that Mr Mugabe is not one bit better than the man he removed.

Almost beyond belief what Mugabe's done to that country. Isn't he in his 80s now? I remember reading about the former Rhodesia under Smith's rule and thought this could never happen again - like the holocaust. Naive. CATHY